Bay Area loses out on high-speed rail

And we have the obstructionists and NIMBYs in Menlo Park, Palo Alto and environs to thank, in good part, for blowing it

As reported on SFGate by AP, the first segment of line between San Francisco and Anaheim will be built “in the middle of Central Valley farmlands, far away from either urban center.”

The California High-Speed Rail Authority, taking directions from Washington, voted unanimously that $4.3 billion in federal money will be spent on segments linking Fresno to either Merced or Bakersfield.

Rail authority board member Rod Diridon, a former Santa Clara County supervisor is quoted in the San Jose Business Journal as saying “it’s heartbreaking for me and many others” that the

the San Francisco-to-San Jose leg would not be built first.

He said one of the reasons the Central Valley was chosen is the opposition to the project that has arisen in Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, Belmont and Burlingame, which comprise the Peninsula Cities Consortium.

Board members discussed the San Francisco (and Los Angeles) segment, but according to Rachel Wall, the authority’s press secretary quoted in the Fresno Bee, “it was clear that they are off the table for the available funding.”

Of course, the entire California project could now be off the table altogether.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., the House Transportation Committee’s incoming chairman, said he doesn’t care to federally fund it, nor any other planned high-speed rail line outside of the north-east, or maybe Florida.

“I am a strong advocate of high-speed rail, but it has to be where it makes sense,” Mica told the Associated Press. “The administration squandered the money, giving it to dozens and dozens of projects that were marginal at best.”